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Thursday, June 20, 2013

School Gun Policy Hysterics?

How about orange water-pistols and lime green cap-guns? Do they make you uneasy, nervous, apprehensive?

Do you go into hysterics at the mere sound of a car backfire?

How about me pointing my index finger at you, feel threatened do you?

Did you feel that cold chill run up your spine knowing full well that my finger could be loaded?

Do the words "gun," or "shoot" make you wet yourself with fear and worry?

Does the term, "Shoot! It's good to see you, you old Son-of-a-gun" have you grabbing a phone and dialing 911?

If so, your sense of reality is screwed up! And yes, you too qualify as a School Administrator!

Want more? Well, do you think the quote, " The right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law" comes from one of those horrible Tea Party radicals?

How about the quote, "But if someone has a gun and is trying to kill you ... it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun"?

Does that sound scary to you? Do you think it came from one of those evil NRA members? Do you think either quote came from a racist?

What if you were an educator, would you stand for any of those types of quotes being tossed around your classroom?

Would you have the student who repeated such quotes sent to the Principal's office and the police called in to question the child?

Would you apologize to that student and express to him or her how truly sorry you are if that student told you that he got those two quotes while studying Martin Luther King Jr. and the Dalai Lama. Both are from them respectively!

What would you the educator do if a student wrote and essay on George Orwell and included his quote, "That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there"?

What if a teenager recited D. H. Lawrence who said, "Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again; poor fools. And their grand-children are once more slaves" - what would you as an educator do?

Would you have that kid suspended or thrown in jail or sent to see the school shrink?

While it seems most schools in the United States of America are on high-alert ready to pounce on any kid that merely says the word "bang," one school board has had enough of this insanity coming from so-called "teachers" and wannabe "educators."

One school understands that there is no such thing as a one-size fits all when it comes to understanding the nuances of society and especially children in our schools.

Finally, we have common sense in at least one of our public schools, in at least one Virginia school district anyway.

After two boy were suspended for "using pencils like guns", not to be confused with "using pencils like knives" which I still have a pencil point in my arm some 50+ years later, the Suffolk School Board decided to review their current "weapons policy" which was a very strict zero tolerance policy which left no room for interpretation.

Believe it or not, under the revised policy, school administrators can actually use their judgement and really look at factors such as intentions of harm and whether the object is listed as a weapon to determine the punishment.

And yes, believe it or not, other than kindergartners who have received Navy SEAL training, ordinary objects will no longer be considered weapons.

Yes, thank God, there is a school in America that understands that a pen is a pen, a pencil is just a pencil, and a Pop Tart shaped like a capital "L" is not a pistol but only a half-eaten Pop Tart!

All index fingers will now be relegated to pointing and picking and poking, all of which do not enable them to discharge a single shot!

A local television station reports that school board members voted unanimously to approve the revised policy last week.

This comes on the heels of numerous students being suspended, expelled, and also arrested for cases involving toy guns at schools, talking about guns at schools, or wearing what some are calling "gun related" clothing such as an NRA t-shirt, and pointing their finger and saying "bang!"

Within the last few months, ever since the senseless killings by one maniac at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the majority of teachers and school officials in America have proven they know absolutely nothing about guns, index fingers, pencils, drawings, and Pop Tarts!

Actually, it appears most so-called educators and school administrators don't know their ass from a hole in the ground and have proven as much lately - especially when it comes to discerning a "real threat" - keywords "real threat" - and some youngster making a gun out of a Pop Tart!

No, whether vigilant teachers and school officials would like to think they are heading off another Columbine or Sandy Hook - a "child" with a Pop Tart eaten to look like the letter "L" or any other chewed up pastry pistol is not a threat to anyone.

As shocking as it may seem to some dim witted teacher out there who is afraid of water pistols and index fingers, their over-reaction is more detrimental to children than any pistol shaped Pop Tart or the word "GUN!"

Have teachers and school officials gone insane? Well, in a word, yes.

The definition of the word "insane" is not hard to understand and it fits the lunacy and distorted behavior of teachers and school officials perfectly.

in·sane /inˈsān/Adjective1. In a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill.2.(of an action or quality) Characterized or caused by madness.Synonyms: mad, crazy, demented, lunatic

Caused by madness? Can hysteria cause madness? Do you want to talk about the cognitive distortions of those we put in charge of our children these days?

Do you want proof of their insane reactions to children who merely "talk" about guns, produce "paper" guns, bring in cap guns and water guns?

Take a look at these headlines:

11 Year Old Suspended, Family Questioned by Law Enforcement Because The Student TALKED About Guns

Multiple Students Suspended for Playing With Nerf Guns AFTER Teacher OK’d Them

Kindergartner Disciplined for Bringing LEGO Gun the Size of a Quarter to School

7 Year Old Suspended for Holding Pencil “Like a Gun”

6 Yr Old Suspended for TALKING About TOY Guns

Michigan Schools Shut Down because Former Student, Now Working For Air Force, Entered School Wearing His Work Camo

3 FL High School Students Tackle Gunman on School Bus, All 3 Are Suspended From School

7 Year Old Suspended For Chewing Pastry Into Shape of Gun

7 Year Old Boy Suspended After Tossing Imaginary Grenade at Imaginary Evil Forces

Maryland School Suspends 6 Yr Old Student For Making Gun Shape With His Hand & Saying “Pow”

Middle School Student Suspended and Arrested For Wearing NRA T-Shirt to School

Girl in Elementary School Searched in Front of Classmates for Bringing Paper Gun to School

5 Yr Old Who Brought Cap Gun to School Interrogated for 2 Hours Without Parents Until He Peed Himself

This is called Hysterics! And yes, it has to stop!

Back when I was a kid, my parents taught me that teachers and policemen were my friends!

My mom used to say if I were in trouble that I can always find a policeman, and that they would help. Yes, they were portrayed as people who would help me and not lose it emotionally.

Never did she say that I or my siblings would be "interrogated"!

Yes, interrogated! Even the word "interrogated bothers me - as should others - either by teachers, school officials, or police officers.

Never did she say that any of us should refrain from answering any questions until we have a lawyer present - if a teacher decides to question us about our actions.

Never did I think that I'd see the day when a child should be advised that they have the right to remain silent and not say a word until a lawyer is present. Because yes, our children too have rights as citizens.

Being interrogated until you pee you pants out of fear is something that I never thought I'd see in America - especially over something as non-threatening as a plastic cap gun.

Hysteria? Are teachers and school officials demonstrating an uncontrollable fear of guns or anything that their minds can imagine be used as a weapon? Are they facing a sensory deficit and simply can't think straight when it comes to making mountains out of molehills?

Damn right they are!

A few days ago, it was reported that the suspension of the 5 year old interrogated over a cap gun who then peed his pants won’t be removed from his record.

School officials in Calvert County, Maryland have denied a request to expunge the suspension of the kindergartner who brought a plastic cap gun on a school bus last month and then wet his pants during a subsequent interrogation.

The unidentified kindergartner had brought the toy gun in his backpack because his friend had brought a water gun the previous day. He later told his mother that he “really, really” wanted his friend to see it.

The school's refusal came in the form of a letter, reports The Washington Post.

The letter stated that the five-year-old “did bring a cap gun in his book bag.”

The letter also stated that some other children were frightened and told school officials that they couldn’t discern if the orange-tipped cowboy-style gun was real or fake.

The idea of a 5 year old child being "interrogated" really bothered me. It is a sad commentary on those people at that school.

They interrogated a 5 year old child for 2 hours? What could you possibly ask a 5 year old for 2 hours and still call yourself an educated adult?

But also what really bothered me was the notion that "children were frightened and told school officials that they couldn’t discern if the orange-tipped cowboy-style gun was real or fake."

This makes me wonder if their fears were being heightened by way of the over-reactions from the teachers and school officials.

Is it possible that the teachers could have defused the situation by telling the other children that it is only an plastic cap gun and not a real gun?

Could have intelligent adults handled the situation differently? Of course they could have!

Is it possible that they didn't because it doesn't fit their political agenda to teach children that ALL guns, even toy guns - completely non-lethal by nature - are things to be frightened of.

School officials at Dowell Elementary School in the town of Lusby grilled the 5 year old for over two hours before finally calling his mother at 10:50 a.m.

By that time, the little boy had wet his pants out of fear.

The school officials just let the child sit there in his urine soaked trousers and kept questioning him!

One report said that the school's principal — Jennifer L. Young, according to Dowell Elementary’s website — told the boy’s mother that things would have been even worse for the boy if had the toy gun been loaded with caps.

Believe it or not, if the plastic pistol actually had caps in it, then in that case the school would have regarded the plaything as an explosive and called the police "bomb squad".

Imagine the insanity! These people are idiots!

The original suspension handed down May 29th was for 10 days. After a disciplinary conference and the intervention of local attorney Robin Ficker, the suspension was reduced to three days.

School officials considered — and denied — the request to eradicate the punishment separately.

The boy’s mother, believe it or not also a teacher in Calvert County, expressed frustration that a seemingly serious offense for a look-alike gun will now be part of her son’s permanent record.

“Why would you do that to a five-year-old who brought an obvious toy?” the teacher added

Attorney Robin Ficker said the family will now appeal the request to expunge the suspension to the Board of Education of Calvert County.

For me, I want to see everyone who terrorized this child fired, sued, and forbidden from teaching or working in schools where common sense and mature judgement is called for.

I want to see justice for the little girl who was searched in front of her entire class, humiliated and made to feel like a criminal because she had a "paper" gun.

I want to see people sued and money taken from their persons. I want to see their teaching credentials pulled and have them banned from school grounds.

I want those who don't have the maturity and know-how to understand the difference between an index finger and a real gun removed from our schools. They have no business teaching our kids if they can't discern the difference!

I find it a shame that our kids have to be protected against over-zealous school officials.

It seems common sense is completely absent at our schools. And yes, until it returns, I hope parents and friends will fight back. Fight back with everything they have!

It's what we are asked to do.

For Your Convenience

MY ALMA MATER

FFL

For Your Convenience

Lay Some Happiness On Me -- Dean Martin

About me?

About me? Well I'm married, and my wife and I live in California, in a small town with a population of about 200 nestled in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains. I'm originally from Hawaii, of Portuguese ancestry, retired, a former U.S. Marine, old fashion, Catholic, very Conservative, and not Politically Correct. As for being a Cowboy? Yes, you can thank my Grandpa for my Cowboy ways. The years I spent growing up on my grandfather's ranch in Kunia on Oahu in Hawaii helped make me who I am. As for my writing style? I'm an informal writer. You'll find I write the same as if we were talking over a cup of coffee. Why write this blog? Well, my wife and I believe we should celebrate and defend our American culture, values, heritage, our country lifestyle, and all that makes us proud Americans. Like others, we live simple and work hard to make ends meet while thanking God for our blessings. Basically we're just your neighbors with opinions, stories, and information. Thanks for stopping in.